Discuss the nature and importance of recent changes in the House of Lords.

... Discuss the nature and importance of recent changes in the House of Lords. Tony Blair promised in Labour's 1997 general election manifesto that he would reform the House of Lords "The right of hereditary Peers to sit and vote in the House of Lords will be ended by statute. This will be the first stage in a process of reform to make the House of Lords more democratic and representative."(Labour Party 1997) These changes have already begun with phase one of the Wakeham report complete, but how important are these changes in regard to how the legislature operates? To ascertain the importance of these changes it must first be discussed what the functions of the traditional House of Lords were. There were of course legislative functions such as initiating a bill. This was easier for the House of Lords as they didn't have to worry about their popularity among voters as they

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